Wonderful, just wonderful! Love, love, love this!

Love Love! Very deep yet simply-worded. Short but sweet, I say. ^^

Yay! Another Eowyn fan! All the other girls who have seen the movie or read the book prefer Arwen. I agree with your point of veiw 100%!

This is quite professional if I may say. Am I right in thinking that this was written as a school assignment? At least that is what I think.

I just want to point out that I agree with absolutely everything you've said. As you already know I love the character of Éowyn. I think she's absolutely fascinating - and I( think that much of the dislike that is lavished upon is because as you sai, she is a woman who decides to make her own destiny. One of yur reviewers pointed out the traditional heroine/deserter criticism, so I'll just put in my two shillings.

Éowyn is not given the office after careful consideration by her uncle, she is given it when no man will take it, and when her uncle is reminded of her by Hama - after she has served as basically his nursemaid for several years! The other major point is perhaps more important - within Tolkien's work disobeying orders, as Merry, Pippin, Beregond, Sam and even Faramir (he must have known Denethor would want him to bring the ring to Gondor) do, is often the truest form of loyalty. At no point in the book does anyone criticise Éowyn for 'deserting' her post - she becomes a woman the Rohirrim sing songs about, Gandalf and Faramir both call her valiant. I understand the point the other reviewer was attempting to make, but I have to say there's no textual evidence for the conclusion that Éowyn was somehow lacking as soldier. Unless you assume that virtually every second character in the book is somehow lacking for having left some duty unfulfilled.

I know I've ranted - that particular criticism just incenses me. Anyway well done for an absolute triumph of analysis!

It's great~

What a wonderful character analysis! You understand Eowyn's character thoroughly.

Very accurate analsis. Eowyn is my favorite Tolkien character and I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to protraying her. You did a very good job.

This is a very interesting beginning to understanding the character of Eowyn. You've managed to hit upon most of the pre-existing conditions and events in her life that make her one of the most interesting and vital characters in Tolkien's writing. Part of this is due, I think, to the fact that she has a clearer story than many of his characters; she changes visibly from the beginning of her story to the end. Frodo does so, as do some of the other characters, but to a far lesser extent.

Were you to revise this essay, I'd love to see you address two more points about her that I, at least, find fascinating and very telling. One is that she is a shieldmaiden, that she knows how to use a sword in the first place. Someone must have taught her that. Who? Why? Was she the only shieldmaiden? She seems to imply that she is not -- she says something to the effect of "I am a shieldmaiden of the Rohirrim," not "I am the shieldmaiden of the Rohirrim." It would be interesting to speculate how many shieldmaidens there had been or under what circumstances one might be produced, particularly set against Eowyn's clear dissatisfaction with her gender role.

The other issue is the fact that, although not a regular member of the Rohirric military structure, Eowyn is given an important job to do -- she is asked to take command and lead her people at home. It's no small thing she's asked to do; Theoden does some thinking about who might be worthy to do it, and Tolkien does not fail to stress the importance of leadership at home, witness Elrond's initial thought to send Pippin home to warn and lead the Shire in case of an invasion that did indeed come. So Eowyn has been entrusted with a job that implies that she is worth something. And, given that big chance, she blows it. She deserts her duty, going on to further personal glory, of course, but still failing in the job she was asked to do. This is very similar to Frodo, who in the end fails to do his job. Perhaps we have a theme of "partial credit" here, perhaps Tolkien is somehow trying to say that a good try can make up in part for failure?

Like I've said, you've done some good thinking here, and you've picked up on quite a few details about Eowyn. She's one of the more psychologically complex characters, and your writing has done her justice.

As for "The Dragon of Rohan," well, you'll have to see what happens to Eowyn and Faramir. I don't think it's implausible that Faramir should be so clueless; marriage is learned behavior, and they haven't been married very long. And remember what kind of role models Faramir had growing up -- Finduilas died when he was very young, and Denethor is not exactly the model of a caring and sharing family member.